Q: original files not found
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Jul 20, 2012 7:32 AMby Limnos,iTunes: How to move [or copy] your music to a new computer [or another drive] - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4527
Quick answer if you use iTunes' default preferences settings: Copy the entire iTunes folder (and in doing so all its subfolders and files) intact to the other drive. Open iTunes and immediately hold down the Option (alt) key (shift on Windows), then guide it to the new location of the library.
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Jul 20, 2012 7:59 AMby Limnos,I suspect you did something a lot more complicated than dragging the whole iTunes folder (you didn't happen to change something in preferences too?) If that really is all you did then iTunes would just have continued using the copy on the internal drive. If you had deleted that then iTunes would not have showed you broken links -- it would have flat out refused to start because it could not find a library file. Unless you can tell us exactly what was moved where, and exactly what you did, then we're just guessing.
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Jul 20, 2012 8:01 AMby musicaltiger,I think I copied the iTunes app to the external hard drive (less than 300 MB) and then copied the iTunes folder to the hard drive. I may have then taken the orignal iTunes folder that appeared in the finder to the trash. It's been a couple weeks, so I'm a little fuzzy.
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Jul 20, 2012 8:07 AMby Limnos,Ummm... it sounds like a mess. I don't think the application likes being run from an external (these days 300 MB is so little that it's not a real space saver moving something that small, in addition major applications do not like being run from another drive). There are ways to move iTunes things to an external but you need to do it carefully.
First, you need to get the application back into its normal place. Frankly I would just download it from Apple and re-install it. Delete it on the external.
Second, we can have a look at what can be rescued from your iTunes folder. As I said earlier, if you dragged the whole folder intact to the external then it may be useable there, but things you said before suggest you didn't.
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Jul 20, 2012 9:21 AMby Limnos,HelpfulMake sure your iTunes folder is intact and has everything you need for a library
What are the iTunes library files? - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT1660
More on iTunes library files and what they do - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ITunes#Media_management
What are all those iTunes files? - http://www.macworld.com/article/139974/2009/04/itunes_files.html
In particular make sure it looks like the examples below:
Image of iTunes folder structure Dec. 2011 - https://discussions.apple.com/message/16923545
see also:
Image of folder structure and explanation of different iTunes versions (turingtest2 post) - https://discussions.apple.com/message/13025536 and https://discussions.apple.com/message/17457605This can be placed on either the internal or external drive, but it must be a complete package and not pieced together by dragginf items from different places.
If you have a complete package you can try starting iTunes, doing the option key thing as indicated earlier.
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Jul 20, 2012 9:28 AMby musicaltiger,Looks like I'm screwed. My tree structure stops at iTunes music. Nothing is contained in the files, neither on the hard disk nor the external drive. Thanks for your help on this. Please let me know if you have any other ideas. I fear I've permantently lost it all.
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Jul 20, 2012 9:44 AMby musicaltiger,i actually just figured out how I can locate my old files in Time Machine and get them to restore; however, I get a message telling me there isn't enough space to copy the old files, which tells me they're going to the hard disk iTunes rather than the external iTunes. Any ideas?
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Jul 20, 2012 9:50 AMby Limnos,Have a look at how space is being used:
OmniDiskSweeper (free) - http://www.omnigroup.com/applications/omnidisksweeper/download/See if there are any music files hidden somewhere.
For items purchased from the iTunes Store:
Downloading (using iOS or computer) past purchases from the App Store, iBookstore, and iTunes Store - http://support.apple.com/kb/ht2519 - enabled with iTunes 10.3 and newer; not all media formats are available in all countries (see: iTunes in the Cloud and iTunes Match Availability by Country - http://support.apple.com/kb/HT5085); apps, books (not audiobooks), music, t.v. shows, and movies (some - not all studios have permitted this). Downloading previously purchased movies and TV shows requires iTunes 10.6 or later. Discontinued items not available.
